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Kant benutzt das Theorem vom höchsten Gut bereits in der Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781). Aber erst mit der präziseren Bestimmung des Unterschieds von praktischer Vernunft und reiner praktischer Vernunft in der Kritik der praktischen Vernunft von 1788 kann auch das höchste Gut (in seiner doppelten Interpretation von ursprünglichem und abgeleitetem höchsten Gut) so interpretiert werden, dass gesellschaftspolitische Implikationen deutlich werden. Dann erst kann es weder allein ins Jenseits gesetzt noch bloß in der Sinnenwelt als realisiert – wie es die prototypischen Individualethiken „Epikureismus“ und „Stoizismus“ tun müssen – gedacht werden.

The main focus of an article became the answers to questions: what factors control the behavior of people involved in business activities in a situation of choice between ethical and cost-effective action, and how important is ethics of individuals when they are making this kind of decision? From this perspective interesting are those who “have not yet entered the labor market”, and therefore their individual ethics has not been subjected to the pressure of business practice in its ethical and unethical dimension. What are their opinions on business ethics? What values in business are important to them?

The aim of this study is to describe the corporate volunteerism in the Czech Republic and subsequently define a structured set of ethical principles that should be complied by companies to enhance the ethical standards of corporate volunteerism and its positive impact. The theoretical part introduces the civic and corporate volunteerism, pointing out their legal and content differences and also the environmental non-profit organizations and economic subjects companies. Corporate volunteerism (CV) is defined as a part of the donation, which is a social component of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study describes CSR as a tool of business ethics and assesses its impact on corporate culture and social work environment in favour of solidarity projects as CV. Based on the experience and study of scientific texts, four models reflecting the company's ethical maturity phase are defined in the practical part of the study. Their names are derived from the context and causes of the launch of CV - models naturally moral, promotional, human resources and employee model. The analysis of models aimed at meeting the objectives of the work, compiling seven ethical principles for CV - principles of real potential, plan and impact, quantity and quality of the target, the benefits of a coordinator´s position, equal access, freedom to make decisions and the principle of truthful communication. The principles are not procedures, however, the principles ask questions and concentrate ethical basis for project of CV. This text is accompanied by an evaluation comment using practical examples (from the institutional, social and individual ethical perspective).

During the last few centuries the way morality is understood has changed radically. In early modernity ethics was defined by Christian thought and Church authorities. Since the religious wars in the 17th century, moral philosophy has been looking for purely human foundations for ethics. Still, moral thinking among ordinary people in Europe became secular only during the latter part of the 20th century. Secular moral thinking has today developed different ethical theories. However, during the last few decades the idea of a common secularity has been questioned. Our multicultural society is now confronting post-secular undercurrents. In this book the author discusses how to understand these ongoing changes in the current moral discourse. The book is a collection of articles written by the author during his time as professor at Åbo Akademi University (1998-2015). He discusses how we can understand moral language and what the conditions for a meaningful use of such language are. The book sheds light upon contributions of ethics to urgent societal problems like environmental questions, questions concerning sexuality, the challenges for political life in our current multicultural societies etc. The author underscores the importance of the responsibility of every individual person. Eight of the eighteen articles are written in English, the rest in Swedish. The book is divided into four sections: I. Frames for morality in late modernity; II. Political ethics and theology – secular or religious?; III. Current moral challenges; IV. Ethics – a question of values. In a new introductory article, “Conditions for an open morality”, the author presents his intellectual and cultural landscape.

In diesem Artikel wird die These vertreten, dass sich Individualethik und Institutionenethik nicht widersprechen müssen, sondern sogar Hand in Hand moralischem Fortschritt zuarbeiten können, sofern zwei Fehler vermieden werden, die zu den beiden Pathologien der Moderne führen – zu den Zwillingsphänomenen Moralismus und Zynismus. Diese These wird in vier Schritten entwickelt: Im ersten Schritt wird herausgearbeitet, dass Individualethik und Institutionenethik sich im Hinblick auf ihren je eigenen Argumentationsmodus unterscheiden. Im zweiten Schritt wird analysiert, wie diese beiden Argumentationsmodi komplementär zueinander eingesetzt werden können. Der dritte Schritt rekonstruiert die institutionenethische Kritik an einer Überdehnung individualethischer Argumente. Der vierte Schritt erläutert, welche Schlussfolgerungen hieraus für die Moral (in) der Marktwirtschaft zu ziehen sind. This articles develops the proposition that the two approaches of individual ethics and institutional ethics do not necessarily contradict each other and that they can even work hand in hand together towards moral progress. However, this requires to avoid two fallacies which result in the two pathologies of modern society, namely the twin phenomena of moralism and cynicism. This proposition is given complete expression in four steps: Step one explains that individual ethics and institutional ethics differ with regard to their specific mode of argumentation. Step two analyzes the potential complementarity of these two modes of argumentation. Step three reconstructs how institutional ethics criticizes certain overexpansions of arguments that originate from individual ethics. Step four elucidates the conclusions of this analysis for assessing morality of (and in) markets.

M 100 Business Administration M 140 Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility The present research attempts to explore the way ethical challenges in Human Resources Management are perceived by HR professionals, to understand how ethical infrastructures and their relevance are associated with the individual ethical judgment and, lastly, to create a measurement tool for the ethical acceptability of dubious HRM practices. A newly-created questionnaire was filled by employees from several Portuguese companies (N=146), who had to assess their organizations’ ethical infrastructures and rate a list of ethically-dubious HRM practice examples. The results of this exploratory study support the hypothesis that the higher the relevance of ethical infrastructures, the less prone employees are to accept ethically questionable practices of Favoring of Power and practices of Discrimination. Results also suggest that the mere existence of ethical infrastructures is not a predictor of less acceptance of ethically dubious practices. These results suggest that the existence of solid ethical infrastructures that are complemented with proper informal systems to assure their relevance may be considered a contextual determinant of the organizational members’ ethics. O presente estudo pretende analisar a maneira como os desafios éticos na Gestão de Recursos Humanos são percecionados pelos profissionais de RH, de que forma as infraestruturas éticas e a sua relevância estão associados ao julgamento ético individual e, finalmente, criar um instrumento de análise para a aceitabilidade de práticas de Gestão de Recursos Humanos eticamente dúbias. Um questionário criado para este estudo foi distribuído e preenchido por trabalhadores de várias empresas portuguesas (N=146), que tinham de avaliar as infraestruturas éticas das suas organizações e classificar uma lista de exemplos de práticas de GRH eticamente dúbias. Os resultados deste estudo exploratório suportam a hipótese de que quanto mais elevada é a relevância das infraestruturas éticas, menor a probabilidade dos trabalhadores aceitarem práticas eticamente questionáveis de Favorecimento do Poder e práticas de Discriminação. Os resultados apontam também para o facto de que a mera existência de infraestruturas éticas não prevê a menor aceitabilidade de práticas eticamente dúbias. Estes resultados sugerem que a existência de infraestruturas éticas sólidas, complementadas com sistemas informais que assegurem a sua relevância pode ser considerado como uma determinante contextual da ética dos colaboradores. Palavras-chave: .

Following Foucault's analysis of German Neoliberalism (Ordoliberalism) and his thesis of ambiguity, this paper introduces a two-level distinction between individual and regulatory ethics. In particular, its aim is to reassess the importance of individual ethics in the conceptual framework of Ordoliberalism. The individual ethics of Ordoliberalism is based on the heritage of Judeo-Christian values and the Kantian individual liberty and responsibility. The regulatory or formal-institutional ethics of Ordoliberalism which has so far received most attention on the contrary refers to the institutional and legal framework of a socio-economic order. By distinguishing these two dimensions of ethics incorporated in German Neoliberalism, it is feasible to distinguish different varieties of neoliberalism and to link Ordoliberalism to modern economic ethics. A partir de l’analyse par Foucault du néolibéralisme allemand (l’ordolibéralisme) et de sa thèse de l’ambiguïté, notre article introduit une distinction entre une éthique individuelle et une éthique réglementée. Nous réexaminons en particulier l’importance de l’éthique individuelle dans le cadre conceptuel de l’ordolibéralisme. L’éthique individuelle de l’ordolibéralisme est fondée sur l’héritage des valeurs judéo-chrétiennes et sur l’éthique kantienne de la liberté et de la responsabilité individuelle. L’éthique réglementée, ou éthique formelle-institutionnelle, qui a retenu à ce jour l’essentiel de l’attention, renvoie, au contraire, au cadre institutionnel et juridique de l’ordre socio-économique. En distinguant entre ces deux dimensions de l’éthique contenues dans le néolibéralisme allemand, il est possible de distinguer entre différentes variétés de néolibéralisme ainsi que de relier l’ordolibéralisme à l’éthique économique moderne.

The ordonomic approach to order ethics contains four elements: (a) a diagnosis of modernity, which identifies the core problems and directs the research strategy to solving them; (b) a rational-choice analysis of social dilemmas, i.e. positive theorizing which informs about the un-intended consequences of intentional inter-action; (c) the idea of orthogonal positions, i.e. normative theorizing that aims at providing reform orientation while at the same time systematically avoiding controversial value statements; (d) a scheme of three social arenas that helps to understand the interplay between institutions and ideas in societal learning processes. Der ordonomische Ansatz zur Ordnungsethik besteht aus vier Elementen: (a) einer Diagnose der Moderne, die die Kernprobleme identifiziert und die Forschungsstrategie auf Problemlösungen ausrichtet; (b) eine Rational-Choice-Analyse sozialer Dilemmata, also eine positive Modelltheorie, die über die nicht-intendierten Effekte intentionaler Interaktionen informiert; (c) das Konzept orthogonaler Positionierung, also eine normative Modelltheorie, die auf intellektuelle Orientierungsleistungen abzielt und dabei strittige Werturteile systematisch vermeidet; (d) eine Drei-Ebenen-Analyse, die das für gesellschaftliche Lernprozesse konstitutive Zusammenspiel von Ideen und Institutionen verständlich werden lässt.

Dieser Artikel skizziert in geraffter Thesenform, wie das ordonomische Forschungsprogramm folgende Fragen beantwortet: Wie passt die philosophische „Welt der Gründe“ zur ökonomischen Welt der Anreize? Wie lassen sich beide Welten so miteinander vermitteln, dass es zu einer Konvergenz guter Gründe und guter Anreize kommen kann? Welche Hindernisse begegnen auf diesem Weg, und wie lassen sie sich überwinden? Sind Zynismus und Moralismus Zufallsprodukte moralischer Diskurse, oder sind sie eine Begleiterscheinung der beiden Pathologien der modernen Gesellschaft? Widersprechen sich Individualethik und Institutionenethik, oder kann man sich sogar vorstellen, dass sie Hand in Hand arbeiten können? This article uses the form of short propositions to sketch how the ordonomic research program answers the following questions: How can the philosophical “world of reasons” go together with the economic “world of incentives?” How is it possible to reconcile the two “worlds” in a way that good reasons and good incentives can converge? What are the main obstacles in the way and how can they be removed? Are cynicism and moralization only accidental byproducts of moral reasoning, or are they epiphenomena of the two pathologies of modernity? Do individual ethics and institutional ethics contradict each other, or is it imaginable that the two go hand in hand?

Aus einer Gegenüberstellung von Optimierungs- und Koordinierungsproblem entwickelt dieser ordonomische Beitrag die zentrale Fragestellung der Wirtschaftsethik. Sie fokussiert die Perspektive auf institutionelle Reformen zur Verwirklichung moralischer Anliegen. Die traditionelle Ethik ist gewohnt, ganz andere Fragen zu stellen. So kann der Eindruck entstehen, als gäbe es einen Widerspruch zwischen Individualethik und Institutionenethik. Dieser Widerspruch lässt sich auflösen, wenn man sorgsam darauf achtet, auf welche Problemstruktur der jeweilige Argumentationsmodus passt und auf welche eben nicht. Die Kernthese lautet, dass sich Individualethik und Institutionenethik wechselseitig ergänzen und stärken können. This article juxtaposes problems of optimization and coordination. It thus develops from an ordonomic point of view the central question that is asked by economic ethics. This question focuses the perspective on institutional reforms that actualize moral desiderata. Traditional ethics is used to asking quite different questions. Therefore, one might have the impression that there is a contradiction between individual ethics and institutional ethics. However, such a contradiction can be overcome if care is taken in observing that different kinds of argumentation fit different kinds of problem structures. The core insight is that individual ethics and institutional ethics can mutually complement and strengthen each other.

Wird im handlungslogischen Argumentationsmodus ein Primat der Gründe gegenüber Anreizen postuliert, so resultiert eine lebensweltliche Kolonialisierung des Systems, die als Moralisierung empfunden wird. Wird im handlungslogischen Argumentationsmodus umgekehrt ein Primat der Anreize gegenüber Gründen postuliert, so resultiert eine systemische Kolonialisierung der Lebenswelt, die als Entfremdung erfahren wird. Diese beiden Pathologien der Moderne lassen sich vermeiden, wenn stattdessen situationslogisch argumentiert wird, um – sei es durch semantische Reformen des Denkrahmens, sei es durch sozialstrukturelle Reformen des Handlungsrahmens – Anreize und Gründe zusammenzuführen. Auf dieser Basis lassen sich auch Individualethik und Institutionenethik systematisch miteinander vermitteln. Die Pointe einer solchen Vermittlung besteht darin, dass Individual- und Institutionenethik Hand in Hand daran arbeiten können, die Fehlschlüsse zu kritisieren, in deren Folge sich die beiden Pathologien der Moderne entfalten. If one postulates a primacy of reasons over incentives, the result is a lifeworld colonization of the system. And if one postulates a primacy of incentives over reasons, the result is a systemic colonization of the lifeworld. Both pathologies of modernity are not necessary and indeed can be avoided if the paradigm of argumentation changes from the perspective of an actor – which takes the situation as given – to the perspective of an observer – which takes the situation not to be constant but variable. Such a change in perspective can help to align incentives and reasons, either through a semantic reform of the framework of thought or through a reform of the institutional framework of action. On this basis, it is also possible to systematically align individual ethics and incentive ethics. In this way both individual ethics as well as institutional ethics can work together in criticizing the fallacies that lead to the two pathologies of modernity.

The present research attempts to explore the multi-dimensional nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR), further understand how a perceived CSR context is associated with the individual ethical judgement of organizational members and, lastly, validate the effect of some other variables on individual ethics. A newly-created questionnaire was filled by employees from several Portuguese companies (N=116), who had to assess their organizations’ CSR values and practices and rate a list of ethically-dubious corporate conduct examples. We assessed on the complexity of the constructs of CSR and ethicallydubious corporate conduct and we were able to better comprehend the association of the main variables with each other and some participant attributes, such as their organizational commitment and sociodemographical variables. The results of this exploratory study give some support the main hypothesis that the higher the perceived social responsibility, the less prone employees are to accept ethically-reprehensible practices and that this evidence is especially strong among the most committed workers. The influence of the other variables studied (e.g., gender, age, company seniority and religious orientation) also converge with the existing but sparse literature on the subject. These results suggest that the way in which organizational values and practices revolving around CSR are perceived may be considered a contextual determinant of the ethics of the employees, having a positive impact at the individual level of the organization. O presente estudo pretende analisar a natureza multidimensional da responsabilidade social das organizações (RSO), melhor compreender de que forma um contexto de RSO percebida está associado ao julgamento ético individual de membros de organizações e, por fim, validar o efeito de outras variáveis na ética individual. Um novo questionário foi passado e preenchido por colaboradores de várias empresas portuguesas (N=116), que tinham de avaliar os seus valores e práticas de RSO e classificar uma lista de exemplos de conduta organizacional eticamente duvidosa. Verificámos a complexidade dos constructos de RSO e conduta organizacional eticamente dúbia e analisámos melhor a associação entre as principais variáveis entre si e com alguns atributos dos participantes, tal como a sua implicação organizacional e variáveis socio-demográficas. Os resultados deste estudo exploratório suportam parcialmente a hipótese principal de que quanto mais elevada é a responsabilidade social percebida, menor a probabilidade dos colaboradores aceitarem práticas eticamente reprováveis, sendo esta ocorrência mais forte entre os colaboradores com maior implicação organizacional. A influência das outras variáveis estudadas (e.g., género, idade, antiguidade na empresa e orientação religiosa) também confirma o demonstrado pela esparsa literatura sobre o tema. Estes resultados apontam para o facto de que o modo como os valores e as práticas organizacionais que envolvem a responsabilidade social são percebidos pode ser considerado como uma determinante contextual da ética dos colaboradores, tendo um impacto positivo ao nível individual de uma organização.

Dieser Artikel entwickelt seine Argumentation in drei Schritten. Im ersten Schritt wird Hannah Arendts These von der Banalität des Bösen und ihre hiermit korrespondierende These von der Radikalität des Guten rekonstruiert. Der zweite Schritt erläutert die wirtschaftsethische These von der Banalität des Guten und die hiermit korrespondierende These von der Banalität des Schlechten. Der dritte Schritt vergleicht Hannah Arendts Theorieentwurf mit dem hier zugrunde gelegten ordonomischen Theorieentwurf für die Wirtschaftsethik. Zur Illustration der Vergleichspunkte werden Bezüge zur internationalen Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise hergestellt This article proceeds in three steps. The first step reconstructs Hannah Arendt's thesis of the banality of evil and her corresponding thesis of the radicality of good. The second steps explains why the ordonomic approach to Business Ethics leads to the thesis of the banality of bad system results and the banality of good system results. The third step compares both approaches and illustrates the main points with references to the current economic and financial crisis.

Dieser Aufsatz vergleicht die Arbeiten von Max Weber, Jürgen Habermas, Friedrich August von Hayek und Niklas Luhmann im Hinblick auf ihre Beiträge zu Diagnosen der Moderne. Eine wichtige Gemeinsamkeit besteht darin, dass alle vier Beiträge zwar modernitätskritisch sind, der gesellschaftlichen Moderne jedoch insgesamt eine positive Bilanz ausstellen. Es wird auch ein wichtiger Unterschied identifiziert: Während sich Weber und Habermas primär mit den Problemen einer systemischen Kolonialisierung der Lebenswelt beschäftigen, befassen sich Hayek und Luhmann primär mit den spiegelbildlichen Problemen und Gefahren einer lebensweltlichen Kolonialisierung des Systems. This article compares the works by Max Weber, Jürgen Habermas, Friedrich August von Hayek and Niklas Luhmann with regard to their contributions to diagnoses of modernity. Their approaches have in common that, although they are critical of modernity, they nevertheless attest that modern society has a positive balance. However, there is also an important difference. While Weber and Habermas primarily deal with the problems of a systemic colonialization of lifeworld (“Lebenswelt”), Hayek and Luhmann primarily address the mirror-inverted problems and dangers of a lifeworld colonialization of the system.

Irkinja Iris Murdoch (1919–1999), poznata filozofkinja s Oxforda i nagrađivana spisateljica, objavila je u knjizi Acastos (1987) platonski dijalog »Art and Eros«, postavljen kao kazališni komad prvi puta 1980. g. i »Above the Gods« s njoj uobičajenom tematikom o ljepoti, dobroti, istini i vjeri. U dijalozima se pojavljuju Sokrat i Platon te nekoliko izmišljenih lica, između kojih se ističe Acastos. Acastosa Murdochove, koji predstavlja moderniziranu verziju Platona, nazvat ćemo kao moj model Acastos I. Opisat ću Acastosa II. kao moju radikalniju verziju modernizacije Platona. Petrićeve izlete u problematiku morala i etike uspoređujem s izvornim Platonom, neoplatonizmom i s oba Acastosa u cilju da mu se vrijednosno locira položaj. Trebaju biti zanimljive dalje usporedbe s obzirom na razliku između tradicionalističke etike pojedinca i najnovijih usmjerenja k primijenjenoj etici., The Irish women Iris Murdoch (1919–1999), a famous Oxford philosopher and award-winning author, published in her book Acastos (1987), two Platonic dialogues: »Art and Eros«, which premiered in 1980, and also »Above the Gods«. The themes were her customary subjects of beauty, goodness, truth and faith. In the dialogues, Socrates and Platon make an appearance, as well as several fictional characters, one of whom is Acastos. Murdoch’s Acastos, whom we shall call Acastos I., sublimates a modernized version of Plato. Acastos II. we shall describe as a more radical version of a modernized Plato. Petrić’s excursions into moral problems and problems in ethics are compared and located with regard to Plato, neoplatonism, and both Acastos. Further comparison are of interest, given the contrast between traditionalist individual ethics (virtues theory) and the most recent directions of contemporary applied ethics.